“Lots of the language is nursing generally is very female,” she said. “It’s a debate in itself really about the whole language, should you be called something different? You’re a charge nurse, you’re a sister - is that right or should everybody be called a charge nurse?"

Just one in ten nurses in the UK is male - a situation which has barely changed in the last decade.

Ms Davies also said there was a need for nurses of both genders to go into primary schools to help educate children from a young age that the job was suitable for men as well as women.

And she said parents should encourage sons to dress up as nurses - not assume it was something only daughters would aspire to.

“Certainly, nursing uniforms for men should definitely be there in childrens’ dressing-up boxes, that is absolutely essential,” she added.

The RCN leader also called for more male nurse characters on television - like Casualty’s Charlie Fairhead - to act as positive role models.